Chapter 4:

The Blackthorn Hospital was not often filled to the brim with patients. Ever since the Revolution Pokémon had done a rather good job keeping humans from getting hurt. That wasn't the case tonight however, as they suddenly had a group of HAA Officers rushing in with an unconscious boy.

The Nurses scrambled to get things sorted out for the new arrival, with one of them, a Tyranitar, asking the one in charge of the Officers for information. "What exactly happened to him?" She asked Lucy.

"He was crushed by a falling tree. He was barely breathing when we managed to get it off of him. What is going to happen to him?" Lucy responded, concerned about what would become of The Lone Ranger.

"We are going to have to check his entire body for injuries. If anything major is damaged we may need to operate. We are also going to need his personal information. Do you have his name?"

"…No, we don't. I was unable to get his name. We only know him by his title around the HAA, The Lone Ranger."

"Well, then we will have to take a blood sample and check his fingerprints instead. Please excuse me" And with that, the Tyranitar turned to see Jude now lying on a stretcher, being carried off to the x-ray room for examination.

"Please be careful with him. He isn't a bad boy, but he seems to have a serious vendetta against Pokémon" Lucy said as she watched him be carried away.

"Nothing we haven't seen before Officer. Lots of humans claimed to have issues with Pokémon after the Revolution, but all of you at the HAA helped to fix that." The Tyranitar nurse responded, before turning around and heading after the stretcher.

Lucy took a moment to let that statement sink in. Our job is to make sure every human is happy. But, I don't think we can do that with this one. Based on what she had seen, The Lone Ranger wanted nothing more than total solitude from the world they had created. How could they possibly convince him otherwise? She sat there and tried to ponder the question until she could find a rational way to do so.

The Next Day…

Jude stirred in his sleep, groggily opening his eyes to see he was in a hospital room. Once this realization struck him, he immediately tried to sit up, where he felt a sharp pain in his back. He moaned in pain as he tried to reach back and feel the spot that hurt, only for him to feel a layer of bandages. What the... What happened to me? He stopped to think about this before remembering what happened last night.

I was crushed by that tree… And passed out. He tried to recall anything else, but his mind was blank after that. "Shit. 5 months out in the wilderness, and it's not disease or running out of food that gets me, but a goddamn tree!" Jude pounded the hospital bed in frustration, then stopped to try and recollect himself. He examined his surroundings and himself to survey the damage.

He was wearing a white hospital gown with bandages wrapped around his upper body. The room he was in seemed rather basic, with the hospital bed being in the center of the room, a television in front of him, a bathroom to the left, and another door out into the hallway to the right. There was a window by the bathroom, but from what he could tell he was at least a few stories up.

"Dammit. How am I supposed to rappel down with such a large…wait a minute, where's my pack?!" Jude scanned the room again to find that it wasn't here, sending him into a full-blown panic. "Oh god, if they open my pack…No, no, they can't." Jude stopped and breathed a sigh of relief at his revelation. He remembered that Pokémon from the HAA legally couldn't search his personal belongings, so he was safe for now.

Before he could figure out what to do next, he heard a conversation going on outside. Not wanting to have to talk to anyone right now, he put his head down and pretended to be asleep. He heard the door open and the sounds of what he guessed was a bipedal and a quadrupedal Pokémon.

"Are you kidding me?! You have nothing at all on him?!"

"I'm telling you what I know Officer Sparks. There is no information on file for this boy, even with the blood sample and fingerprints. It seems that our Lone Ranger friend did quite a thorough data scrub on his records. And until we can get some information out of him, we don't have any leads on him. I'll leave you to it Officer."

With that Jude heard the sound of footsteps as who he assumed was the nurse left, leaving the Luxray still in the room with him. If I recall, I believe her name was Lucy. Lucy Sparks he thought to himself as he waited to hear something else.

Lucy stood there, looking over The Lone Ranger. She was still racking her brain to try and figure out how she could get him to open up to her. Though she did still realize one thing that was going on here, and decided to test it out. "…I know you are awake." She said calmly, causing his eyes to jolt open out of surprise. "There we go. I thought you looked uncomfortable sleeping in that position."

Jude stayed silent, not wanting to make this situation any worse. He was glad to know that they didn't have the files on his personal information, which meant his identity was a secret, and that they couldn't have gone through his backpack. He avoided eye contact, trying to find something else to focus his attention on, when Lucy walked back into his line of sight.

"I know you don't want to talk, and I won't make you. Though I am willing to bet you were awake listening to our conversation." He looked away after that message, causing Lucy to sigh. "Just as I thought. You know that your personal information is completely unknown, and I imagine that it is your doing. I won't ask that you tell us your life story, but we still need some sort of information from you."

Jude was not amused that he was still being pressed for information about his personal life. He realized that she wouldn't go away until he said something, so he decided to try a different approach. "No thanks. You want my personal life? I want my backpack, and a one-way ticket back to the wilderness. Once again you Pokémon got me into this mess, and now you are going to get me out." And with that he put his poker face back on, refusing to say another word.

Lucy sighed at what she heard. She anticipated getting the cold shoulder from him, but it didn't make her job any easier. "Look, I am sorry that we apparently have caused so many issues in your life. But I implore you, at the very least, give us your name. We don't even have anything on your blood record. A name would be a serious help for us."

Jude contemplated actually giving her that information. He realized that there would be very little risk since they don't have his personal information, but at the same time, that name was not something he felt would be much use to anyone anyway. "Alright, I have a better idea. I'll give you that name, but I only want you to be the one that knows it. To everyone else, I am The Lone Ranger. Got it?"

Lucy was relieved to hear that. While it wasn't much, he was at least starting to open up to her, and if she was careful she could get him to warm up more to her. "Deal. Now spill it Ranger."

"You Officer Sparks, can call me Jude. Jude McCoy. But just you. And if I catch wind of anyone else speaking that name I'm going mute."

"Thank you, Jude. I promise, no one else will know that name." She said with a smile. Finally, a connection. This I can work with. "I'll see you later. Get some rest. The doctors say that tree fractured your spine, so try not to move around too much." With that, Lucy walked out of the room to report her findings to the HAA.